A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
Benvolio couldn’t sleep because he was upset too.
19 Matching Annotations
- May 2025
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glad I am he was not at this fray.
She’s happy he wasn’t in the street fight.
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By giving liberty unto thine eyes; Examine other beauties
Seeing others will just remind him of Rosaline’s uniqueness. Hopelessness: Romeo is stuck in a mental loop.
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O, teach me how I should forget to think.
Romeo ironically begs for help forgetting.Discussion prompt: Can you control who you love?
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She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair,
Romeo plays with repetition and reversal.Poetic device: Antimetabole used to show obsession.
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beauty starved with her severity
Her strictness is killing the joy and value of her own beauty. Critique: Romeo sounds entitled to her affection.
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, and in that sparing makes huge waste, For beauty starved with her severit
Romeo calls her decision wasteful he feels beauty should be shared.Paradox: Saving herself = wasting her beauty.
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she is rich in beauty, only poor
Her beauty will die with her since she refuses to pass it on through children. Theme: Renaissance ideal beauty should be passed on through family
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She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Siege is military language he sees wooing her as attacking a fortress. Commentary: Love is war in Romeo’s mind.
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love's weak childish bow
Cupid’s weapon is mocked he’s childish compared to Rosaline’s strength.Tone: Romeo sounds bitter and hurt.
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she hath Dian's wit;
Diana is the Roman goddess of chastity. Rosaline is compared to her. Insight: Romeo admires her purity but also resents it.
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Well, in that hit you miss
Romeo flips Benvolio’s metaphorshe is beautiful, but love can’t touch her. Wordplay: The back-and-forth punning shows Romeo’s frustration.
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A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.
Benvolio suggests that beautiful women are easy targets for love. Metaphor: Compares love to archery beauty becomes a target.
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The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.
Gregory reminds us the feud is handed down from nobles to servants. Insight: Conflict trickles down even to those with no power of their own.
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being the weaker vessels, 30are ever thrust to the wall:
Irony: Sampson thinks he’s claiming power, but Gregory spins it into weakness.
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and cut off their heads.
A violent image meant both literally (killing) and sexually (taking virginity). Double meaning: Shakespeare blends shock and humor how does that affect tone?
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A dog of the house of Montague moves me.
Sampson hates the Montagues so much, even their dog angers him. Theme: The dehumanizing nature of the feud.
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Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar.
Gregory mocks him, using draw to mean escaping hanging. Commentary: A dark joke implies Sampson’s bravado might get him killed.
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or then we should be colliers
Gregory turns Sampson’s metaphor literal colliers are coal workers. Humor: Shakespeare uses puns right away to show the characters’ wit.
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